In winter the backroads become blanketed in snow and they make fine snowshoeing corridors.    An out-and-back is easier in the snow, but it is more fun to create a loop route, which may mean stomping through deeper snow.    A long route through deep snow is okay, but quite tiring so some kind of planning helps, using maps and Google Earth.     Sometimes it takes several outings to develop new routes.   I had snowshoed the Walloper Lake FSR before, but in checking Google Earth imagery, I could see a hidden lake to explore and by reviewing maps with OHV Trails shown, I developed a plan to explore an area.    Earlier I had checked out the parking area for the Walloper FSR on my way back from Lodgepole Lake so that is where the stomp started.

There are a number of older cutblocks in the area, some forested hills, some ponds and marshes, and areas of lodgepole windfall.

I went south of the road and turned onto a secondary road, bearing southeast.    I spotted the hidden lake through the trees and bushwhacked my way to the shoreline.     I snowshoed down the lake to the south end, then looked for a forest opening to find my way to the single track trail on the map.    The snow was deep and progress was slow, but I found the trail and followed it, going north.   I limited the volume of off-track stomping by rejoining my track, but for the last section followed another snowshoe track back to the start.

I will build on this to explore more terrain in the area.   There are more hidden lakes, trails, and routes to check out.